Open Days
- it was wonderful to see so many Grade 6 & 7 pupils and families at our High
Open Day on Saturday.

Have a great week,
Kim Hooper
Marketing Manager

Google Calendars for parents

We plan ahead as far as possible for test dates and sporting fixtures, and so information gets added into these areas often. For this reason, we have set up a number of different Google Calendars to allow parents and students to access information as soon as it is available, so that they may also plan ahead.

We have a separate calendar for each Grade’s academic deadlines starting from
Grade 5 onwards. This allows teachers to make sure that a grade is not getting overloaded with deadlines bunching up. We also have separate sporting calendars for each Phase of the school.

For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes-His eternal power and divine nature have been understood and observed by what He made, so that people are without excuse. Romans 1:20

Beside doing National Service in the army, I spent 23 years as an ectronics technician in the defence industry before going into teaching and ministry. I found over the years that I have had an interest in how things work. The older I get the more apparent to me what an amazing God we serve. What He has put into place, the creation of this world and the universe. I’m a firm believer in the creation story as God is quite capable of creating the world in 6 days and the seventh is set apart for Him. In John 1:1-3 we read: “In the beginning, the Word existed. The Word was with God, and the Word was God. He existed in the beginning with God. Through him all things were made, and apart from him nothing was made that has been made”. Jesus, God the Son was with God the Father and God the Holy Spirit when the world came into being. So if anyone
is interested in then Creation story,
Kloof Methodist Church’ is hosting a series of talks on Creation entitled:

After months of planning, Long Walk is upon us. If the vibe at the Sponsored
Walk is anything to go by, then we should be in for an absolutely wonderful Long Walk. At this stage the weather is forecast to be a little hotter than we would like, but with 5 days to go, hopefully that will change.

A week back we were still very short of volunteer helpers and it was unfortunately necessary for me to put out a rather strong worded appeal for help. There was a wonderful response from those who were probably always going to help but were a little slow in coming forward. While we still need more support, the crisis has certainly been averted. Thank you so much to all those who responded!

All the details of the walk can be found under NEWS AND EVENTS on the Thomas More website,
www.thomasmore.co.za. or clicking
on the feet at the top of the home page.

May I wish Wayne Jaggard and his committee, all the walkers, organisers and helpers all of the best for Saturday.

We are now barely two months into the 2015 academic year and we have already held the 2016 Open Days. The attendance on Thursday, Friday and Saturday was extremely encouraging and I can see that Thomas More College remains very much in demand. Interviews and screening will take place over the next few months.

I received a heart-warming letter from Jason Smuts (Class of 2013) describing the various achievements of some of his 2013 classmates at UCT. In his own words, ‘these are just a few names from my year alone that have made an impression at UCT and will, I believe, keep doing so for years to come. This is a true showing of how Thomas More equips us, not only to survive, but to strive for our best. We are restless and never stand still, always seeking the next opportunity to excel’.

Today (Monday) the pupils watched a play with a ‘Save the Rhino’ bent. This is an issue very close to my own heart and the anti-rhino poaching initiative needs all the help that it can get.

The annual One-Act House Plays directed by the Grade 11 drama students takes place on Wednesday 11th March at 6p.m. Please support this worthwhile evening.

The Long Walk on Saturday is a flagship traditional event and part and parcel of our heritage and ethos. All pupils need to play an integral role on the day.

Thank you to all those Grade 6 and 7 parents who supported our High School Open Day and came to hear first-hand what our own special High School is about and why we really would like to see your child staying with us. We are also grateful to those families who are hosting the boys from the Penryn touring cricket team this evening. Thanks too to all those who supported the Foundation Phase inter-schools gala we hosted Thursday last week.

Well done to all our Senior Primary swimmers for their achievements at the Boys’ and Girls’ Inter-schools ‘B’ Zone Gala at Kings’ Park last week. Best wishes to our Senior Primary swimmers competing in our Patrick Akal Pool in the Senior Primary Highway ‘A’ Zone Gala this week Thursday from 16:00- 19:30. Parents welcome to attend.

Our children were privileged to see the play “Horn of Sorrow” this morning in the hall. The strong message about our environment and conservation was well portrayed in the theatre in the round about the rhino. We trust they benefited both from the performance as well as from the message.

As our children are busy preparing for the Long Walk, which is always such a special day of camaraderie and pitting yourself against yourself, I want to share an article by the well-known Nikki Bush, entitled “Loving your fear”.
The core message is that change is difficult, no matter what it is. There is so much to get used to. There is much to fear that is new. But with fear, comes growth. Many fears are ones we all experience. They vary from not being fit enough, to not fulfilling our potential, to not getting the marks needed to take the next step in life, and so on. These fears can make us grow, galvanising us into action and energizing our lives. The article ends by saying, “I love my fear.” When kids get the opportunity to overcome something through their own personal experience they grow in leaps and bounds, in ways you cannot imagine and could never orchestrate if you tried. True confidence and self-assuredness is only truly discovered and ‘owned’ in the moment of actually facing challenges and triumphing. Life responds to our expectations – let us all rise to its challenges! In the words of Ralph Waldo Emerson, “Neither you nor the world knows what you can do until you have tried…

The week ends with our legendary, character building Long Walk, on Saturday 14 March, where we hope to face our fears and see most of you at the finish line! (Please refer to Phase letters which have detailed information about the Long Walk. Also ensure comfortable worn-in walking shoes, lots of sunscreen and liquids en route.)
If you have still not volunteered your services and are available to help, please
email longwalk@thomasmore.co.za - we do still need support.
All the best…

Our Gr. 2 & 3s swam in our home gala. There was good competition and we had the following results:

1st place – 1

2nd place – 8

3rd place – 9

4th place – 5

5th place – 8

6th place – 4

7th place – 3

8th place – 3

9th place – 1

U9 Hardball Cricket vs Winston Park

On Thursday the U9 cricket boys played away at Winston Park. Winning the toss, the visitors sent Winston Park in to bat on a hot and humid day. Ryan Browning and Brayden Doran took the new ball and both returned excellent figures of (2/24) and (1/18) respectively with some tight bowling. Kylie McIntyre (1/10) and Devon Harwin (2/10) were
economical and also picked up wickets which helped to restrict Winston Park to
106/7. Special mention to a diving catch by Max Buchan behind the stumps. TMC
went into bat and were immediately under pressure by some excellent controlled
bowling by the hosts. Opening batsman Zipho Mgidi was able to contain the bowling upfront but TMC struggled with the run rate. Having to chase the game they lost regular wickets, but there was a lone standout performance by Braden (15) who made sure the team managed a respectable score of 67. We look forward to the return leg on home ground in the 4 term.

Grade 3 Netball Tournament

We hosted a Grade 3 netball tournament at TMC and it was our Grade 3s first match for the term. They all had fun and we had the following results:

TMC 1 won both their games

TMC 2 drew 1 & lost 1 game

Well played girls!

Life Saving

Congratulations to Dayna Deeble who attended the KZN
Nipper Surf Lifesaving Championships on the weekend. She won the
"Competitior of the Championships" in the Girls' U9 age group, and came first in
Surf Swim, Flags, Beach sprint and Bodyboard. Well done Dayna.

Gr. 2 mini cricket

Our Grade 2s played in their last mini cricket match on Saturday. There was much excitement and loads of fun had by both the children and the parents. We
unfortunately lost
to Highbury.

Gr. 3 mini cricket

Our Grade 3s played in their last mini cricket match for the term. Much excitement and fun was had and the boys played extremely well. We beat Hillcrest Primary. Well done boys!

Special congratulations to U14A, U14B and U16B girls' indoor hockey teams who have gone unbeaten this season. They have all done extremely well and we are super proud of their commitment and high standard of play.

All of these calendars start out with basic information and then details are added as we find them out. E.g. at the start of a term, a subject test will be booked for a later date. As the time draws closer, the teacher is able to determine more fully what syllabus the class has managed to cover thus far, and will fill in details of what will be in the test at that stage.

It is important to note that this information is “live” and needs to be checked regularly. We have links to the different calendars available inside our website, found under the different Phase sections. We also have links to the same calendars inside the Parent Portal. The calendars that apply can be found under each of your child’s subheadings.

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The Horse’s Mouth Newsletter has all calendar links available to be able to easily find whichever calendars you need to.

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How to use the Google Calendar:

After you have clicked on the relevant calendar link, it will show you the default monthly view of the calendar:

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There are navigation buttons at the top left to change dates easily to look back or to future events:

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You are able to change the view of the calendar using the buttons at the top right to show only a week at a time, the default monthly view, or if you click on “Agenda” then you will see a list of events scheduled:

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Please note – it is not a good idea to print the calendar out, as the information might get updated and you will not realize this if you are referring to a print out of a calendar at a certain point in time.

To see more details about a heading in the calendar, you need to click on that heading – it will pop-up a small window giving you what details have been filled in already. This is where we have information such as which teams are playing and times, and also what material will be covered in a test/examination:

It is important to note here that it is also not a good idea to click on the bottom option “Copy to my calendar” here, for the same reason as printing, you will not receive updated information if anything changes in the live calendar.